I received this orchid as a valentines gift from my DH. I've always wanted orchids.
This is the way it looks now.
What am I doing wrong? I really want this plant to live and thrive! I love the exotic looking blooms.
BTW...this is the way it has looked all summer.
Dee
If it looked like that all summer, with no new leaves and with that root hanging out, maybe it needs repotting, although with only 2 leaves, I am sceptical. More info from you is required.
What's it potted in? If it's in sphagnum moss under the top dressing, I would take it out of that and replace it with pre-wetted phal mix. Make sure the roots are healthy, you can trim any unhealthy roots. I posted to a previous thread tyhis week about helping out orchids like this so you can check that post too.
How are you maintaining moisture/humidity? It looks like a phalaenopsis, and they like lower light levels but need humidity. Mist in the am or set on a tray with SpectraStone to create a humidity tray (you can buy humidity trays for orchids from orchid vendors).
Also, water quality may affect them- the halide ions commonly found in tap water is bad, I use the water out of my dehumidifier and I know that others here use rainwater. So you might want to try bottle spring or distilled water.
When and what did you feed it last? I feed mine monthly now (weekly in the summer but you might still be weekly) with Peters Orchid Food (not the blossom booster because mine are not in spike). A bit of SuperThrive probably wouldn't hurt it either.
Answer the questions I've asked and more advice from the real orchid experts will be forthcoming; I know they will ask these questions too, so might as well get the answers and help your phal.
Beverly, you covered a lot of ground here! Lots of very good points.
If I may say something additionally - Dee, your plant looks desiccated and in need of watering regularly, not just misting.
Take it to the sink and FLOOD the pot with roomtemp. water, then let it drip off and place back into its growing area.
How often to water? If you lift the pot and it feels light, water it. You will learn after a while what that is supposed to feel like by comparing the weight to a just watered pot.
About dangling roots on any epiphytic Orchid - they do not need to be inside the pot and covered with bark. On the contrary, healthy roots growing over the pot are more than fine. There is no need to constantly tear the plant out of its bark to examine roots, Phals really don't like that.
If one would like to make an experiment, tie a healthy bare- root Phal to a piece of wood/corkslab/suitable branch without potting medium and grow it hanging down. Water every day with good quality water and fertilize regularly, the plant will grow just fine and flower gracefully.
Hi Ursula, thanks. Shouldn't her phal have some new roots coming up from the main stem she can see easily? Mine do. That long root looks kind of dry to me. Maybe her phal is in a pot that's too big? My beginner's phals with just a couple of leaves are in 2 1/2" pots, I thought they like to be a little root-bound, and that you increase pot size in little increments, am I right about that?
Beverly,
her plant will have new visible roots, when the plant is properly cared for/watered and fertilized etc.
Your plants looked nice in their little pots, but I am not sure I myself would be so accurate and increase pot size in increments as one would do with a Passiflora perhaps as an example. The fact that a particular Orchid becomes unwieldy/sprawling all over the place or tipping the pot constantly over and because of that hard to care for, is much more a reason for me to repot and clean up a plant.
Yes, I had orchids tip over in the breeze, those I repotted a second time in a bigger pot and weighted the pot with some pebbles. I have 1 orchid in the little pot that doesn't have a too big plant - leaves and center stem I mean- but I can see inside the clear pot that it has developed a very big root system, I may put it into a 4" pot. It looks very healthy; I think it can take a bigger pot now.
I found a no-name purple phal in bloom at Metro Plant exchange for $5. Healthy too. It is now mine. I am pretty sure the spike is getting ready to send out something else too.
RUK is right, the poor ole plant is parched. This could be the root structure can not take up enough water or it just plain is not getting water as often as it should. It is hard to do the weight thing with a plant in the ceramic pots as the weight of the pot is much more than the material in it especially a free draining bark mix.
As bbinnj say it might be interesting to see if the material on top is top dressing and sphagnum moss under or the bark mix all the way down. I grow phals. in both mediums (sphagnum moss or bark mix) and see no difference as far as plant health. A word of caution sphagnum moss does hold more water and it is easier to overwater. You can tell how damp sphagnum moss is by the feel, so this is an aid to knowing when to water.
As RUK has indicated, it probably just needs a little more water.
Ken
I did know it is a phalaenopsis.
OK..I removed the the plant and it did have the sphagnum moss around the roots with the bark mixture on top and some down in the sides.
I moved this baby to one of my bathrooms for humidity purposes until I can get something else. This move will be OK...right?
As for feeding, I don't think I have. I certainly did not use anything specific for orchids. I will correct that today. I will purchase some food for orchids. Being in MS, should I feed weekly for a while and then switch to monthly, say at the end of October?
Thanks for all your help.
Dee :)
Yes I think so. I fed weekly until Labor Day, now I've cut to monthly. Urusla, what do you think, can she still feed weekly in her zone?
If you want it out of your bathroom to enjoy and want to keep the humidity up, get a large saucer at your nursery you can fill will pebbles for a humidity tray. For 1 plant, you don't need a whole tray. Or you can mist it daily.
OK...I did all this, even fed the little darling and now one of the leaves is turning yellow. What did I do wrong?
Dee
If you see a new leaf, then losing an old is not so bad. If not - this little baby was perhaps past its prime?
You might just need another trip to the store and come home with a very pretty new one in spike.....
I'm no orchid expert at all, just trying to grow my first phal, but that plant looks fine to me. Just try not to overwater it. Put it in the light, don't baby it, and it should be fine. It probably won't put up a flowering spike this year. But by next year you should see flowering. It should start putting up airial roots, but you have to be patient. That's one thing I'm not crazy about with my orchid. Flowering only once a year is a little disappointing. I've had mine for over a year and it's just now putting out a flowering spike. Who knows when it'll bloom.
Dee
I hope by now you have seen an improvement with your plant. I believe that the yellowing leaf was because the plant might have been shocked from being handled. That's okay, it should ajdust and send out a new leaf. Make sure you are using the right amount of ferterlizer and not burning your plant. Make sure that each time you water it that it drains compeletly. Do not let it sit in water. The light is also important. If it is in your bathroom, does it have light all day or only when you are in there? It needs filtered light if near a window or outside.
lilbit
It still looks pretty sick. But, I am continuing with the treatment. However, because of the light situation, I moved it back to the kitchen and made a humidity tray for it to sit in.
I will continue to watch it closely.
Thanks for all your help.
Dee
I'm not sure if anyone would agree with me, but I would suggest that you not watch too closely. I say this because I believe that orchids don't really like to be fussed with too often, except for watering once a week. When you mess with them daily it might be stressing them. I have seen my mother worry so much about her orchids that she litterly drowned them. She did not think that they were getting enough moisture because of the bark and the fact that all the water would drain out . She did not realize that the roots retained water for a few days. She would let them stand in water so that they could drink during the day. I had to rescue her last orchid and put it aside and water once a week and let it rest. I have never tried the peroxide technique, but I think that it wouldn't hurt any plant that is sick. Have patience, it has been less than a month since you have been treating this plant and orchids are slow growers when dormant. You said it is inside now because of the cool weather. I have a few that I keep on my window seal year round and the other stay outside under trees. The winters here are mild, so I only take them in December through February. Well, I hope you like a challenge, I just wished it would not have been on your first plant. Just think that if you pull this plant through and are rewarded with a flower, you will want to acquire more plants. I sometimes think that maybe it's not the plant that gets the disease, it's us, because we keep getting more plants.
lilbit
lilbit...
I think you might be right. Because when I was basically ignoring it and watering it less, it really seemed to be doing alright.
Dee
I agree with lilibit. I only have one orchid (phal) that a friend gave me a little over a year ago. All the flowers on it died shortly after I got it. I had no idea what I was doing, and was too sick to do any research on it to see what to do while it was flowering. After the blooms died, I pretty much left it alone except to water it when I thought of it. As I recovered, I had time to find out how to treat it to hopefully make it bloom again. I potted up one size, gave it fresh bark, and began to feed with Peter's Orchid Food and water once a week. I just happened to have a light set-up for a few plants, so that's where I put my orchid. I live in a very dry climate, but I've never misted my plants, so I didn't mist the orchid.
Now it's has one spike with many buds on it, and I'm thrilled!
So hang in there and don't do much to it. Let it recover. At least then you can say you've tried everything :-)
My wife recently received an orchid from my daughter's boyfriend. She has also received gifts of orchids from many other sources in the past. She really would like to keep this one alive. The others except for one outdoors have died off. What is the best source for a novice in orchids to go to (online)? We don't even know the Latin names or the cultivar of the plants.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Chuck
Hi Chuck, welcome!
This forum has a "sticky" with all sorts of good info for everybody. Have a look here if you like
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/562969/
Have fun and try to come up for air once in a while. :-)
Start a new thread and give us more specifics about the orchid or why the others died off. Folks will be able to help you better that way.
Dee - I lost one to cyberspace, but I'll try again.
I have had this phal for almost two years. I have been trying to repot it, but it won't quit blooming long enough for me to get it done. I finally decided, since it seems to love its tiny little pot so much, to let it keep its "woobie" pot, and I'll just set the whole kit and kaboodle into a larger pot with some fresh bark to pad it. But first, I will let the new stem come on out. It just *might* make it for Christmas and join the 2 dens, a vanda and 2 oncs that should be starting to open about then. Those and the Christmas cactus create quite a show this winter.
I would be happy to share info about how I care for my orchids and epis, but I really am *not* an expert. I just do what feels right and so far I have had good results.
ginni
ginni,
I will take any info you have. I really like orchids...but they don't seem to like me. :(
Dee
Hang in there! Orchids aren't really that hard to grow. But they do need frequent attention. I move mine out to a lightly shaded area in the spring. I run the mister almost every day (5 to10 minutes) and fertilize once or twice a week all summer. When I bring them into the greenhouse in the fall I start cutting back on the fertilizer for the ones without bloom spikes and continue for the ones that want to bloom. I keep the thermostat at around 50 to 55. This year I have added an aquarium with an air stone and heater to help keep the humidity up and suppliment the heat. I hope I can use it as a rooting system as well in the spring. Since they are all in bark, and many of them hanging, they drain fast with little chance of over watering.
It sounds like a lot of work, but it doesn't seem like it to me. I try to repot all new orchids as soon as possible and after that it may be several years before they get another full move. I check the pots and baskets and add bark when and where its needed. I don't know all the rights and wrongs about growing orchids, but right now I have at least six that will be in bloom around Christmas and I had blooms on one or another all summer.
I do the same thing with my epis.
If you travel this way, come on by and see them!
ginni
ginni,
Thanks for the info. I will try your method and see what happens.
I would love to come by and see yours when I'm up that way.
Dee
